By Chelsea Phua
cphua@sacbee.com

Law enforcement authorities arrested a sexually violent predator Wednesday, just hours after he was seen for the second time in seven days on the Del Campo High School campus.

Authorities say Hugh Levell Stewart (left photo), 55, a registered sex offender, was arrested shortly before 4 p.m. at his home in the 7900 block of Shrewsbury Avenue in Fair Oaks.

However, authorities are not connecting Stewart with a series of attacks on Del Campo High students.

Stewart was arrested on suspicion of being at Del Campo. Under state law, registered sex offenders are not allowed on school grounds without permission from school authorities.

Law enforcement officials said Stewart was seen twice -- once Wednesday morning - and "had no lawful reason" to be on campus.

Sacramento County sheriff's Sgt. Mike Jones said the arrest is "an example of us taking the offensive and getting a predator off the streets before he commits a heinous act." Jones supervises the SAFE team, a multiagency task force assigned to supervise, monitor and arrest registered sex offenders.

Jones alluded to what happened in San Diego, where a registered sex offender is charged with killing a 17-year-old girl who was reported missing in late February and whose body was found days later.

"Kids should be on campus to learn and not be concerned that sex offenders are in the hallway with them," Jones said.

Trent Allen, spokesman for San Juan Unified School District, said "there is an increased level of alertness," at the school but that the campus remains calm.

"We want our students to practice safety precautions at all times," Allen said, such as walking in groups and reporting suspicious activities.

District officials used an automated phone system Wednesday to call families of more than 4,000 students from Del Campo and six surrounding schools to alert them to Stewart's presence and, later, his arrest.

Since late January, three 15-year-old girls walking to the school in Fair Oaks have been sexually attacked by a medium-built white man in his 20s who is 5 feet 8 inches to 6 feet tall, with short black hair and a chubby face. The man, of whom officials released a composite sketch (at right), was wearing a hooded jacket and baggy jeans.

Each of the attacks -- on Jan. 28, Feb. 5 and March 3 -- happened on the catwalk leading from Moraga Drive onto the west end of the campus. In each case, the attacker inappropriately touched the girls and fled.

Stewart is white, with brown hair and hazel eyes. Online jail records show he is 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighs 150 pounds.

Stewart is categorized as a sexually violent predator because he was convicted of crimes against children, rape, and sexual penetration with a foreign object. He also is deemed a mentally disordered sex offender.

Sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Tim Curran said Stewart had committed crimes in Alameda and San Joaquin counties and a judge approved him to live in Sacramento County after his release.

Call The Bee's Chelsea Phua, (916) 321-1132.